U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida is the favorite of a Republican establishment alarmed by Trump’s controversial proposals and crude style and anxious about Cruz’s uncompromising conservatism.
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Among Democrats, 8 in 10 voters in both states said the country’s economic system benefits the wealthy, not all Americans.
Trying to make a stand in Michigan, Sanders has accused Clinton of being disingenuous when she asserted that he opposed the auto bailout that rescued carmakers General Motors and Chrysler during the Great Recession.
For Rubio, he warns Republicans that if the real estate mogul wins the nomination, “the prospects for a safe and prosperous future would be greatly diminished”.
A new Monmouth University poll showed Florida Sen. “CNN is doing a disservice to voters by airing that sort of reporting without even checking with the campaign”, Alex Conant, Rubio’s communications director, said.
He has resisted offering an endorsement of his own, having also praised Mr Cruz and Mr Kasich in remarks last week.
The Florida senator’s chances of being the Republican alternative to Trump may have slipped away this past weekend. With super delegates – party members who are free to choose who to support – Mrs Clinton has 1,130 of the 2,383 needed to win the nomination, compared with 499 for Mr Sanders, according to an Associated Press tally.
Mississippi, meanwhile, will test whether Cruz’s surge in Louisiana – he closed a massive polling gap and finished within four points on Saturday – expands to other Southern states, or Trump can finish running the table in the Deep South. Idaho could be better ground for Cruz, who has spent more time in the state than other candidates.
Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton, 68, also has a solid double-digit lead in MI opinion polls over rival Bernie Sanders, 74, a USA senator from Vermont.
“We’re now the only campaign that has beaten Donald Trump over and over and over again”, Cruz told reporters.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich tried to mount a strong challenge to Trump in Michigan, Tuesday’s biggest prize. Marco Rubio have urged him to drop out of the Republican presidential race, this according to a new report.
Some mainstream Republicans have cast both Trump and Cruz as unelectable in a November face-off with the Democratic nominee. GOP candidates were fighting for 150 delegates, while 179 Democratic delegates were at stake in the party’s two primaries.
The Monmouth poll found Clinton leading 55% to 42% going into the primary, and she has begun to gently make the case that it might be time for Sanders, who has vowed to fight on until the Democratic convention, to consider his position.
Mrs Clinton is already halfway to getting enough delegates to secure the nomination.
Sanders’ victories so far have come in more rural states that are overwhelmingly white.
The spokesperson also confirmed the substance of the message, in which Romney tells voters to back “a candidate who can defeat Hillary Clinton and who can make us proud”.
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Big Michigan wins for Trump and Clinton would set them up for a potentially decisive day of voting on March 15 in Ohio, Florida, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina.
